Surface Coated Sulfur Nanoparticles Suppress <i>Fusarium</i> Disease in Field Grown Tomato: Increased Yield and Nutrient Biofortification

Abstract

Little is known about the effect of nano sulfur (NS) under field conditions as a multifunctional agricultural amendment. Pristine and surface coated NS (CS) were amended in soil at 200 mg/kg that was planted with tomato (<i>Solanum lycopersicum</i>) and infested with <i>Fusarium oxysporum</i> f. sp. <i>lycopersici</i>. Foliar exposure of CS (200 μg/mL) was also included. In healthy plants, CS increased tomato marketable yield up to 3.3∼3.4-fold compared to controls. In infested treatments, CS significantly reduced disease severity compared to the other treatments. Foliar and soil treatment with CS increased yield by 107 and 192% over diseased controls, respectively, and significantly increased fruit Ca, Cu, Fe, and Mg contents. A $33/acre investment in CS led to an increase in marketable yield from 4920 to 11,980 kg/acre for healthy plants and from 1135 to 2180 kg/acre for infested plants, demonstrating the significant potential of this nanoenabled strategy to increase food production.